The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1887-09-16
Italian hand, pinned to the center-pole
of the tent. All it said was this:

| uttlc OF tne gOl0, IOr must nave SOmctnln&
to sustain life. For your unspeakable goodness
TO me shall ever remember you In my prayers.
The letter was unsigned. We look
ed at each other for moment Neither
of us liked to be the first to examine
the pile of gold. But curiosity was too
strong and silently we disentombed the
earthen resort wherein our treasure
was buried. Only small nuggets were
gone, otherwise the store was intact
The generous girl had rewarded our
devotion with almost ninety per cent
of her own earnings by her own untir-
ing toll.
believe we both wcpt silently for
few minutes; the girl had woven her.
self into our hearts somehow. But
presently Fred stretched out his hand
and in moment there had been re-
established friendship that remained
unbroken until twenty years afterward,
when poor Fred turned his face to the
scorching African sky, with big
Zulu's assegai through his heart.
Our luck did not desert us with the
departure of our guest. We kept ad-
ding daily to our store, and already
had enough to make Fred and myself
and our two silent partners in Mel
bourne comfortable for life. We were
very reticent about our good fortune,
and fear told a good many lies to
conceal it from the rest of the camp.
We divided our hoard into two equal
parts, and buried them in two separate
corners of the tent, adding to them day
by day until at last we concluded we'd
had enough, and spoke of an early re-
turn to Melbourne and comparative civ
ilizatiOn.
Then-shall l ever forget the grief
and horror of that sultry morning when
we each of US awoke with a split
ting head, staring stupidity
at the two empty earthern
pitchers. that lay bottom upwards, tell
ing us we were once again as penni-
Tess as when we reached the camp.
The thief, whoever he was, had per-
formed his work well; he had chloro-
formed us both as we lay sleeping, and
had then ruthlessly ritied our store.
''It's all because the little girl left
u.s." moaned Fred. with gloomy super
stition. II knew we could have no luck
after she went away. leaving her gold
behind her, as she did. poor child"
But we had to work to live, and in we
started anew. Fred was right, how
ever. Our luck seemed to vanish. and
three months more Of killing labor
found us gaunt, haggard and emaciated
wrecks. with perhaps S75 worth of gold
at the outside.
Then Fred and I again cried out
we'd had enough; SO we pulled stakes
and rode out of camp one quiet night,
resolved that we had seen our last of
gold-digging. Poor Fred. gaunt and
wan, with great beard flowing over
the place where his collar should have
been, never uttered a word as with
bowed head he cantered briskly along
at my side, and l myself did not feel
much like conversation.
Well, we were riding quietly along
two evenings after that, a good hum
dred miles on our journey. when we
heard the lightning hoof-beats Of a
madly-galloping horse behind us. The
rider shot by us like cannon-ball and
was lost in the gloom ahead of us be-
fore We had time to recover from our
But the next instant
there rang outN fearful cry-a cry in
which longing and despair were about
equally blended. and-wonder of Won
ders-it was in shrillness and intensity
very like woman's cry!
Squirting our animals to gallop we
dashed ahead. and drew rein beside
confused mass of dying horseflcsh. over
which stood the lonely traveller. A
glance was enough to teH us it was our
little guest of the camp.
She recognized us in moment. and
in the fast-gathering darkness 1 again
saw the old hunted look that the srief
had partially chased away
come into her mournful eyeA She
out her hands with a cry of
Joy. ''Oh, friends, not momcnt!'' she
walled, ''they are after me! They
must not, must not take me. There
arc hundred of them. Quick! Quick!
hey are within mile of us. Save me.
md will tell you of it all rs we fyr'
Without another word swung her
% my horses crupper, sprang up be-
lind her. and with my right arm chose
y about her, spurred madly forward.
With Fred laundering along in the rear.
On we rode, wildly. breathlessly; there
vas no chance for word to be spoken
md l am ashamed to speak of the
that surged through me as l
cit the soft face pressed 50 closely
.gainst my flannel shirt
We flew forward for five miles or
more without check, when felt my
rusty steed stagger under the
weight of his double burden. drew
Elm and called to Fred to take the
He responded with alacrity
poor fellow. l could imagine his
eelings-and without stopping trans
erred the little woman from my own
addle to his.
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